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By: Caitlin Behles | January 3, 2019 - 5:13pm

On December 13, 2018, parties to the conflict in Yemen met in Sweden and agreed on a set of first steps toward finding a political solution to the conflict, setting them out in the Stockholm Agreement. Within the agreement, the parties agreed to the following: “1 - An agreement on the city of Hodeidah and the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa; 2 - An executive mechanism on activating the prisoner exchange agreement; 3 - A statement of understanding on Taïz.” Within the first agreement, the parties agreed to an “immediate cease-fire . . . in the city of Hodeidah, the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa and the governorate upon signature of this agreement,” and “[a] mutual redeployment of forces . . . carried out from the city of Hodeidah and the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa to agreed upon locations outside the city and the ports.” Concerning Taïz, the parties agreed to create a joint committee with participation from civil society and the UN with the aim of opening humanitarian corridors for goods and people across the front lines, reducing violence in the governorate, deploying demining operations, and establishing a prisoner exchange. The parties agreed to refrain from taking action that would undermine the agreement and to resume consultations in January 2019. In his briefing before the Security Council, the Special Envoy for Yemen was hopeful about the progress made, and also noted that work remained to be done on “on the opening of Sana’a airport and on the measures needed to improve the operations and reach of the Central Bank of Yemen as a condition for the full payment of the salaries of all civil servants.”